Saturday, July 7: ne of the brassiest ideas Jeff Tweedy ever had was to open Wilco’s elegant and inclusive progressive-roots sound to the shred-grade chops of Nels Cline. Let’s be clear: Hip people hate chops, and let’s be equally clear: Cline has them and makes no attempt to hide them.
Tuesday, July 10: Dave Eggers declared the Tivoli writer “one of the most distinctive and unforgettable voices I have read in years.” Hunt’s recently reissued novel is about a young woman who believes herself to be a mermaid. She falls in a love with a damaged veteran of the first Iraq war, a fisherman named Jude.
Sunday, July 1: Locally, the pillar of Ed Sanders’ fame might well be his lead role in the band of rock ‘n’ roll subversives known as the Fugs, but internationally he will always be known principally as the best-selling author of The Family, the first great work on Charles Manson. Sanders is an unabashed fan of RFK and of what might have been.
The 360-degree, cross-disciplinary nature of inquiry at SummerScape inclines the curators toward composers who lived in fractious and interesting times: more to work with, more meaning to tap. Fortunately, that includes most of them.
June 30-September 2: Maverick Concerts in Woodstock is the oldest continuous summer chamber music festival in America. Lest that sound too staid and venerable, Hervey White’s Maverick colony, of course, was an incubator of progressive thought in society and in all the arts. Maverick Concerts is White’s legacy, and the current curators honor that with an inclusive approach to programming and repertoire that is anything but pandering.
Saturday, June 16: The story concerns the rekindling-under-duress of a friendship between Julie and her gay ex-husband from long ago. Sardonic, wry and ceaselessly funny as it may be, My Ex-Life genuinely surprises as it progresses, accumulating tenderness, warmth and complexity.
Sunday, June 24: When John Bonham dropped that crazy foot of his 12 seconds into “Good Times, Bad Times” on Led Zeppelin’s 1969 self-titled debut, rock drumming changed instantly and forever. John’s son Jason Bonham can hardly be accused of cashing in on his father’s thing. But he hasn’t shied away from the family brand, either. He has recorded with Page and played with Zeppelin at several of their more significant one-offs over the years.
Saturday, June 9: As to the title Heddagabalus, I get the Ibsen reference, but I don’t even want to know what “gabalus” is; probably something to do with brain anatomy or a Roman general.
Friday-Sunday, June 15-17: Jack Johnson, Alt-J, Sturgill Simpson, George Clinton, Kurt Vile, the Decemberists and dozens more bands take to the hills. Compared to the urban polyglot favored on Roosevelt Island, the slopes of Hunter are a place where guitars still play.
Saturday-Sunday, June 16-17: More than any other established music festival, the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival is directly associated with activism and the environmental movement via the imprimatur of its founder, Pete Seeger. This year’s performers include Jeff Tweedy, Rhiannon Giddens, Ani DiFranco, The Mavericks, Beth Orton and They Might Be Giants.